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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday May 13, 2008!
A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, KIS Futures & Midwest
Farm Shows!
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-- Back in Washington Again...
-- The 2008 Farm Bill- NAWG Decides to be an Advocate of the
Bill.
-- Farm Bill Timing- the Return from the 2002 Bill of "Pencil
Dust"
-- 2008 Wheat Crop Remains Behind Normal- But Still Rated in Good to
Excellent Shape.
-- Five Nation Beef Conference Kicks Off Today in the US
Heartland
-- National Value Added Conference Coming to Oklahoma in June.
-- This Sunday- Red Hills Herefords with their "Save the Grass
Dispersion Sale"
-- Higher Higher on Feeder Cattle- that and More on the
Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We also welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a
regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central
Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is
dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check
out their website for more information by clicking here! If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Back in Washington Again... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After being in
the Washington area last week for the FMD exercise, we are back in our
nation's Capitol one more time- this go round as a guest of BASF Ag
Chemical Company. This German based company has brought in some of their
top research people from both their Plant Science and Crop Protection
Divisions to meet with the ag trade media from both the magazine side as
well as from broadcast. In addition, they have added a couple of
Washington based guest speakers which will be of interest to one and all-
we'll have a chance later today to interact with Bruce Knight, Under
Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs- who's at the epicenter of
the COOL and National Animal ID System efforts. Knight has been the USDA
point person on Animal ID, promoting the idea of premise registration
being the right thing to do even as USDA has left it a voluntary program
because of huge criticism by those who don't want the government knowing
any more about their business than is possible.
This evening- we will have a chance to hear from one of hte sharpest analysts around when it comes to the US political scene- Charlie Cook, who will be offering his handicapping thoughts on the Congressional elections of 2008. | |
The 2008 Farm Bill- NAWG Decides to be an Advocate of the Bill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the
stops we made on Monday afternoon once we arrived in our nation's capitol
was the National Association of Wheat Growers office- and we visited with
Daren Coppock, CEO of NAWG. Just as we arrived at their office, they were
issuing a statement that declared their support of the 2008 Farm Bill
Conference Report.
Coppock admitted that they still did not have the final Conference Language- but had seen some of the internal details from the Ag Committees' staffs- so felt comfortable with making the call. The number one priority for NAWG during the farm bill process has been protecting the Direct Payment, as that has been about the only support wheat farmers have received from the 2002 Farm Law- and with wheat prices far above where target prices and loan rates have any relevance- it may stay that way for much of the life of this farm bill as well. Coppock pointed out to us that if the other two legs of the three legged stool- countercyclical payments and loan deficiency payments- came into play, we would be in major trouble since input costs have escalated so sharply pushing the cost of production much higher than what those "safety net" programs could help buffer. Coppock calls the Permanent Disaster Program a "good place to start" in
regards to lessening the need to come hat in hand and asking Congress for
Ad Hoc Disaster Aid. Click to listen to Ron and Daren talk Farm Bill "stuff" direct from the NAWG offices in Washington. | |
Farm Bill Timing- the Return from the 2002 Bill of "Pencil Dust" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I suspect one
of the reasons that groups like NAWG and lawmakers like Oklahoma
Congressman Frank Lucas and Kansas Lawmaker Jerry Moran have been slow to
endorse the final Conference Report until they see the actual language and
the details that make up the Conference Report is lack of trust for how
lawmakers like Senator Tom Harkin has handled this entire process.
For example, back in the Senate Ag Committee, the honorable Chairman
was able to slip in several "pet projects" in a Managers Amendment which
the Senators agreed to without any idea what it actually contained. That
resulted in the livestock industry having to spend time and resources to
stop his proposal to slap a ban on Packer Ownership of Livestock until the
last couple of weeks before slaughter. It seems that as CBO has scored the measure- it has been discovered
that there are several billions of dollars less that can be counted on
that will come from the Customs Users Fees that were the main offset for
paying for the extra billions of dollars in nutrition spending that has
been demanded by Speaker Pelosi and others. | |
2008 Wheat Crop Remains Behind Normal- But Still Rated in Good to Excellent Shape. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Oklahoma Crop Weather Update details the terrible twisters of this past
week- along with details on hail damaging some wheat fields in mostly
north central Oklahoma. The update does mention that even the Panhandle
got some much needed rain this past week- helping irrigated crops but
still leaving the area in mostly drought like conditions.
Excessive moisture last week led to lower than average stages of development and disease problems in small grain fields across the state. Flood and hail damage resulted in the loss of a few wheat fields in North Central and Northeastern districts. Winter wheat Headed, at 88 percent, was eight percentage points behind the five-year average. Twenty-three percent of the State's wheat was in the soft dough stage, 11 points behind normal. Rye heading was complete by weeks end. Fifty-four percent of the rye crop was in the soft dough stage, an increase of 40 points As far as spring planting is concerned- we are actually slightly ahead of the five year average in planting of corn and peanuts, while we slightly behind in getting grain sorghum and soybeans into the ground. Cotton has lagged substantially behind the five year average of 25% planted by this date, with only ten percent of the expected crop in the ground at this time. Click here for the full report from NASS of the Oklahoma Crop Weather Update | |
Five Nation Beef Conference Kicks Off Today in the US Heartland ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cattle
producer groups from four of the major beef exporting countries- as well
as producer leaders from Mexico- are headed to Kansas City today for the
every other year Five Nations Beef Conference. These are not government
people or academics- but rather producers who are leaders in their
respective national organizations. The countries involved include the US,
Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.
The group will start in Kansas City as they arrive today and will spend Wednesday on the campus of Kansas State University, will move later in the week to Grand Island, Nebraska and then back down to the Lake of the Ozarks region for their actual meetings. Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, says it is kinda like a conversation over a cup of coffee at
the local Cafe between cattle producers- they won't be talking official
policy- but rather trading ideas and comparing notes about what's going on
in the beef industry in their country. He expects the countries to talk
quite a bit about animal rights groups, a common concern, as well as
issues like the biofuels debate that has heated up a great deal here in
this country. Click here to listen to Ron and Gregg Doud talk about the Five Nations Beef Conference. | |
National Value Added Conference Coming to Oklahoma in June. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The tenth
annual National Value Added Conference is being planned for Stillwater and
Oklahoma City June first through the third. The Robert M Kerr Food and Ag
Products Center at Oklahoma State University is a major sponsor of this
event- along with USDA's Rural Development Agency in Oklahoma headed up by
Brent Kisling.
.This year's conference will feature topics such as value-added and economic development provisions proposed in the next Farm Bill, organic labeling regulations and their impacts on niche meat marketers, as well as hands-on product manufacturing experiences at the FAPC. Early Registration for this conference ends on May 20- you can save fifty dollars by registering before that date. We have the brochure on the Conference linked below- take a look if you have interest in the world of Value- Added Agriculture. Click here for details about the National Value Added Conference to be held in OKC June 1-3. | |
This Sunday- Red Hills Herefords with their "Save the Grass Dispersion Sale" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Red Hills
Herefords will hold a "Save the Grass Dispersion Sale" at the Flaming
Farms Sale Facility, Clinton, Ok. with over 425 head to sell. The sale is
set for Sunday, May 18 beginning at 11:00 AM.
Jimmie Johnson writes on their website "Darla and I would like to invite you out to the Red Hills of Western Oklahoma on Sunday, May 18th 2008 for the biggest Hereford sale ever to be held in Western Oklahoma. We will sell approximately 275 cows. Nearly all will have a calf at side. We are going to sell every single cow 2-years-old and older. By doing this, you can know that we are not holding back "the best ones." I have always said that one of the good things about our cattle is that they can go about anywhere and do well- simply because of the honest cattle conditions they are raised on. There will be cattle in this sale for every type of buyer, so come out Saturday night the 17th for food, drink and fellowship. Hopefully, you can find some moneymakers on Sunday that can help your program. Whether you are looking for the donor types or good uddered, hard working young cattle to start a herd or just add to your own good herd, we have something for everyone. As an added benefit, over 100 of these pairs are first calf heifers and another 100 are less than 5 years of age. You won't find that many young Hereford cows selling anywhere that I am aware of." We the link to their website below- that has more information on their Hereford cattle- as well as a link there to download the full catalog for the upcoming sale. If you would prefer to give them a call- call Jimmie on his mobile phone at 580-331-8534. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, KIS Futures and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahomafor their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe. | |
Higher Higher on Feeder Cattle- that and More on the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a big
run on Monday at the Oklahoma National Stockyards- with 10,000 head of
cattle estimated being sold. And they sold at better money- one to two
dollars up on yearling cattle and in a light test- calves were as much as
five to seven dollars higher.I thought the commentary might be of interest to you this morning from the USDA market reporters- "Most buyers aggressive for numbers while others are on the sideline. A few cattle are still coming off graze out wheat, however, much fewer than normal. Moderate numbers of feeders are now going to northern feedlots as available supplies get tighter there. Several cattle continue to come from out of state but in thin flesh or gaunt conditions." Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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